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Linux "is not piracy" Says Microsoft Lawyer
dipfan writes "Further to this Slashdot piece on the activities of the Business Software Alliance, the BBC reports on a European conference on piracy organised by the BSA. The good news is even Microsoft distinguishes between open source software and piracy; it quotes Microsoft's top in-house lawyer Brad Smith as saying: 'Linux is a way of developing software whereas piracy is copying.' The rest of the article is the usual panic-attack about the size of software piracy in general, and how this is holding back the software industry in Eastern Europe, according to Brad. Although the article notes the irony that despite all the piracy, software sales are forecast to grow from $50 billion in 2000 to about $90 billion by 2005."
The sky is blue
Grass is gren
Voicemail is cool
Linux is a way of developing software...
And all this time I was under the impression that Linux was an operating system kernel!
"piracy is copying."
So 18th century pirates just boarded your ship, copied everything, and left?
Is it just me or does this contradict things?
They tell us we can't buy machines without an OS. Then they say that we're not allowed to remove the OS. Oh, and we can't give away the machine without a Microsoft OS either.
Oh, and you can be sure that they think that a machine with Linux preinstalled is an OS-free machine.
These guys play both sides so much you'd swear they were U.S. negotiators in the Middle East. Well, granted, Microsoft has been more successful. Bill Gates to solve the crisis in the West Bank???
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
#include "StandardWhineAboutExpensiveSoftware.h"
#include "WhineAboutOnlyUsingItOnce.h"
#include "RantAboutNeedingPhotoshopInsteadOfGimp.h"
etc...
Sheesh. Are there any insulting comparisons Microsoft hasn't yet made?
In other news: "Mozilla piracy has grown 12% last year according to MS sources. Also, GIMP piracy has also grown considerably."
Come on MS... come on... grow up!
Fabio - Sumare/Sao Paulo/Brazil/South America/Earth/Solar System/Milky Way/Universe
http://www.morroida.com.br
In other news Micro$oft spokesman says "we magnanimously concede that breathing oxygen is not, in and of itself, stealing from us".
To me, the big brotherish quote was:
"Criminal organisations can sell software direct, as well as through retail channels," said Symantec lawyer Art Courville. "So, it is harder to monitor."
yep- can't have that ol' free market in the way, somebody might be doing something unlawful
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts."
Google:
Searched the web for pirated software. Results 1 - 10 of about 73,600. Search took 0.11 seconds.
Did you mean: warez
---
Searched the web for warez. Results 1 - 10 of about 4,110,000. Search took 0.07 seconds.
I's an ebil haxxor.
---
S
It took them a whole day?
Geez. A quick Google search on 'warez' yields not merely a million, but 4,290,000 sites!
Search took 0.04 seconds. How much are they paying these guys?
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
Or shall we patent/copyright "a method for cleaning windows?"
I believe Linus holds the trademark on "Linux," and I've used it to clean Windows off of several systems.
Nope, no sig
- A vegitable
- An animal
- A mineral
- A verb (although I have heard people say "let's linux this project," which made me want to slap them)
- A birthcontrol device (well, arguably)
- A form of martial arts
- A cure for the common cold
- A paint remover
- A shoe manufacturer
- A religion (arguably)
etc..._______
2B1ASK1
JW: So tell me about the free software.
VV: So what you want to know?
JW: It's free right?
VV: It's free, but it ain't 100% free. I mean you can't just walk into Fry's and grab a copy of Red Hat off the shelf without paying for it. You have to download it or copy it from a friend.
JW: That's because it's under the GPL.
VV: Right. It breaks down like this It's leagal for you to buy it, it's leagal for you to copy it and if you are into programming, it's legal for you to modify it. Companies can sell the software, but that don't matter, 'cause you can turn around and give away copies of it. Limiting redistribution is a right the GPL explicitly doesn't give developers.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
"Say it again and I'll Be you, for jibbity's sake!"
Actually, I'd rather be Bill Gates, if only for the money...
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Actually, I'd rather be Bill Gates, if only for the money...
promise me you'll spend some of that money on a decent haircut..
...in other news, Microsoft released a statement which said that the Pope is Catholic...
Errr, I mean they HAD the way out...
http://www.wehadthewayout.com
-- Windows security? Sure, which ONE would you like? -me
"We can't estimate how much piracy is on the net but in one day we found a million sites under a search for one of the codenames for pirated software," said a BSA spokesperson.
I just found 125,000 web pages for "masochism", yet there are hundreds of times that many people using Windows. It would appear that page count does not accurately reflect societal penetration [sic].
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance